Jerri Noto, 56, of Astoria said a scammer got her brother’s name out of her then said he was being held.

“Said he’s in the back room and my brother has a gun to his head and if you don’t come up with $2,000 in five minutes, he said my brother is gonna blow his brains out,” Noto told CBS 2’s John Slattery.

But instead of wiring the money, she had her son call the brother, who was in New Jersey and just fine. Police advise that a strange call about family and money should set off a scam alert.